Beograd Café

LTHForum,

I've passed by a number of times, and Beorgrad has a few references on LTHForum, but it's been off my radar, so when m'th'su suggested lunch there last week it took me a minute to place.



Turns out Beograd is a spacious nicely decorated cafe offering solid Serbian fare plus crepes, both sweet and savory and espresso.





In addition to the cafe there is an attached market with bakery, including Serbian pita, prepared foods, dry goods and smoked meats. There's even a magazine section with Serbian Playboy on offer.





Our lunch for four started with ok Italian bread and a generous plate of lightly smoked pork, breseola and kajmak.


Followed by crisp, flavorful spinach and cheese burek. One of the better bureks I've had in recent memory.



Our main course was a mixed meat extravaganza with bacon, chicken, chevapchichi, sudlukica and pljeskavica. Of particular note were the sudlukica and pljeskavica, a Serbian 'burger' filled with ham and cheese.



Neither ajvar, kajmak or sour cream came with the mixed meat platter, so we ordered individually.

Sour Cream, Ajvar


With lunch we drank raspberry and blackberry juice mixed with sparkling water, not sure whose idea this was, Steve Z's, Jazzfood's or Sula's, but it was a terrific idea, very refreshing.



Nutella crepe with crushed walnuts made for a nice, if overly rich, finish to our meal.



Service was quite good, with the attractive waitress fitting nicely within Vital Information's Czech Paradox



Sensing our interest in matters culinary Dusan, Beograd's manager, showed us his newly minted picture of ABC's Hungry Hound, Steve Dolinsky.

Dusan with Steve Dolinsky


Enjoy,
Gary

Beograd Meat Market
2937 W Irving
Chicago, IL 60618
773-478-7575

You're on a Balkan kick, Gary. I think I'll join in, since it's been a while.

Here's another old thread with discussions of Beograd and other Balkan spots, with some nice pics from ReneG.

Beograd

There have been a few Beograd mentions in other threads, but not much here in the dedicated Beograd discussion. In case anyone's missed the mentions, let me note again that the place is fantastic! Admittedly, I've only had 2 things in my life from Beograd: the burek and the lemon donuts. I frequently get those items to go on Sunday morning (chomping on cheese burek as I write), and they are as good as you'll find. The burek has such as huge following, that it's made constantly throughout the day and is always hot and fresh when purchased. For that reason, you do sometimes have to wait a little while for it to be done. It's chewy, crunchy, and stuffed with delicious, salty fresh farmer's cheese. Simple, hearty food. The big, round, hole-less donuts are served right out of the fryer, with subtle natural lemon-sugar flavor accenting fresh yeastiness, and a light but nicely chewy texture.

If you're anywhere near Beograd and in the mood for this kind of stuff, go. If you need more enticement, look at Gary's photo of the staff.

Beograd now has a liquor license, free wi-fi, and tasty breakfast.

As is apparent in my posts above, I like Beograd. Been going there quite a bit actually, as the nice weather has made Beograd's spacious, shady outdoor seating quite appealing. It is with that context that I must warn fellow LTHers: do not order the pizza. Beograd's pizza has terrible crust, terrible sauce, terrible cheese and terrible toppings.

Get the burek. Have some sausage. Get an omelet or crepe. The salad’s aren’t bad. Have a piece of cake. But do not, I repeat - do not - order the pizza.

Beograd Café
Tried searching for this and did not see this discussed anywhere so I thought I would start one. As a child my father used to shop at Beograd Meat Market located at Irving Park and Richmond. This was in the late 1980s and early 90s. We had just moved here from Ohio and he came here a lot to buy lamb, sausages, cheese and other goods from back home. Flash forward twenty some years later and there is a little café attached to the meat market which has been there for quite some time. After we moved to West Rogers Park my father made less and less trips over to Beograd because he oftentimes got what he needed at places up north. Since I live literally less than a mile down the street I gave the café a try back in 2010 and adored it.

Saturday my husband and I were in search of a place to eat after catching a show at the Music Box and I was in a rare mood for burek. I say rare mood because I have visited Montenegro quite a few times over the years and when I am back home that is all I ever eat so it can get quite tiresome after coming back here. To get my burek fix on I thought of Beograd because they are super yummy, with a nice crunch to the crust and plenty of cheese on the inside and you get a nice huge size for a very reasonable price. I have eaten burek at other places in the city and they have always been underwhelming, lacking in the flavor that I can get when I go back to my parent’s home country. I always feel like the bureks at Beograd give me exactly what I am looking for, the home comfort food of home while being as far away from it as possible. My husband ordered the sarma which is cabbage stuffed with rice and some bits of pork on the outside. He really enjoyed his meal and the nice round bread they give out with your meal goes very well with a dish like stuffed cabbage. In the past, he has also tried the chevapchichi which he also enjoyed immensely. The café serves all types of coffees and teas as well as alcohol. We didn’t drink any of the booze but I did have the Turkish coffee while my husband opted for the regular American coffee and they were very good. Service was excellent. Our waitress could not have been sweeter. All in all, very good place with the comforts of home close to home.

Beograd Café
2933 W Irving Park Rd
773-478-7575

Aha! The elusive thread that never came up though I typed in Beograd Cafe twice into the search feature. Glad there has been a well deserved discussion on this place before.

KajmacJohnson, thanks for resurrecting this thread. It's a favorite of mine. Love the pic of Jazzfood peering over the Playboys.

You're totally welcome. G Wiv's pictures actually make me want to go back for some crepes.

Waiting for an oil change down the road, I had a great lunch of boneless skinless chicken thighs finished in mushroom cream gravy with three scoops of mashed potatoes and the same ok Italian bread Gary mentioned in 2007. Unusually robust mid-afternoon Monday crowd watching an eastern Euro basketball game thinned out considerably after the final whistle.

Thanks to this thread bump, I'm now jonesing for burek

A local FB group is reporting there was a fire at Beograd yesterday. Anyone know if this is true and if so the extent of the damage?

ETA: Drove by this morning. If the fire was at Beograd the damage must have been negligible; no visible signs of any damage or any indication that business has been or will be disrupted in any way.